Your Free Speech is in the Hands of “Hoaxy”

Researchers at Indiana University in the US have launched Hoaxy, a platform to follow the spread of “fake news” on the Internet.

“Hoaxy”, its creators allege, is an open service that allows to automatically track the spread of news in order to analyze the problem and be able to design strategies that end with the so-called disinformation that involves the spread of false news, rumors and conspiracy theories.

The system uses a series of web crawlers to detect links to articles posted on fake news sites. Then, through a Social Media Application Programming Interface (API), “Hoaxy” checks how these false news spread across networks. The question here is who determined what a fake news site is and what methodology was used.

Apparently, the user only has to write in the platform searcher the subject that interests him and the service will return a list with all the false news that have been published on the subject. No explanation is given as to why those links lead to “fake news” or how the decision was made to determine that such news is fake.

The platform also offers results from alleged conspiracy theories. Among some of the topics included in the conspiracy theory section are Chemtrails, or the artificial modification of the weather by governments and private entities. Chemtrails are far from being a conspiracy theory. It is more of a conspiracy fact.

In reality, what tools like “Hoaxy” are, are the beginning of a massive push for internet censorship against the rising independent media. Why? Because independent media have gained more respect, trust and audiences than the traditional, corporate controlled dying media.

Hoaxy and tools of the same kind will be used to target dissenting views, not to eliminate fake news.